The University of Tennessee, Knoxville hosted distinguished author, professor, and social scientist Arthur Brooks as a guest virtual speaker on day two of the Student Success US Conference 2024. 

UT Provost John Zomchick served as moderator for the conversation, “The Intersection of Happiness and Success: A Conversation with Arthur Brooks.” The discussion explored the how universities can generate positive environments through value efforts and understanding how social trends affect student well-being.

At the outset of the conversation around happiness on university campuses, Brooks believes it is important to establish a clear definition of what happiness is, stating feelings are the evidence of happiness as opposed to a feeling itself and that those feelings arise from receiving enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning from the experiences that begin to form a student’s life. 

According to Brooks, college presents itself as a time to begin finding those components in students’ lives, asking big questions to find understanding as opposed to finding definite answers. The reflective themes that appear from asking those questions aligns with the need for practical skills students will naturally acquire through their education. 

“Practice of inquiry is as important to gaining skills,” said Provost Zomchick.

Further into the discussion Brooks made it clear that he holds the pandemic and the rise in screen usage responsible for fracturing the university connection as a foundation for students to learn the value of relationships. Students are decreasingly considering starting families, connecting to higher meanings, and fostering meaningful relationships. He believes college is a path for beginning to reconnect students to a more meaningful life. 

“College is the experience of being together,” said Brooks. 

Attending college and finding more ways for people to succeed without taking traditional routes will create more avenues for people to find enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning in their experience and in their vocational endeavors, noted Brooks.